A few random thoughts, inspired by my recent rotation through the hospital wards.
Time is passing
My students and residents keep getting younger. Maybe not, but their year of birth is coming later and later. We had a patient the other day with transfusion-related diseases. No one on my team had heard of Ryan White.
He had died before any of them were born.
I feel old. Sigh.
Singles or Doubles
The trend in hospitals is to have single rooms. I know all the arguments: there is less potential to spread disease between patients, there is more privacy, family can stay, a disruptive or delirious roommate is really tough to deal with.
On the other hand, today my patient got a call during rounds. It was his prior roommate, calling to check in on him.
I have had roommates call for help when a patient is decompensating; at least one of my patients was saved (as in, his life was saved) when his roommate noticed something was wrong.
I am still undecided as to which type of room is better.
part-time doesn’t work here
This stretch working on the in-patient side is a bit longer than usual. It’s great fun working with good residents and students, but even so, the hours are long. There is no working 0.9 FTE while in the hospital.
Do you work in the office and in the hospital? How do you find a good mix? Any recent epiphanies?